c 

YieAe 


YALE    COLLEGE 


IN   1890 


REFLECTIONS    ON    ITS    CHARTER 


The  articles  composing  this  pamphlet  were 
written  at  odd  times  when  the  writer  was  in  the 
humor,  and  were  published  at  odd  times  when  the 
newspapers  to  which  they  were  addressed  cared  to 
publish  them. 

They  are  now  put  together  as  a  contribution  to 
the  information  graduates  will  have  in  their  posses- 
sion before  they  commence  any  a6lion  in  the  pre- 
mises. 

D.   Cady  Eaton. 


:iA 


YALE   COLLEGE   IN   1890 


I. 

There  is  a  radical  difference  between  a  college 
and  a  university.  This  difference  should  be  em- 
phasized in  a  country  where  there  is  danger  of  the 
terms  being  confounded  and  where  there  is  appar- 
ent a  disposition  to  regard  a  university  as  a  college 
of  a  larger  growth,  or  as  the  logical  expansion  of 
a  successfully  condu(?ted  college  institution.  The 
misconception  is  already  beginning  to  injure  the 
cause  of  education  by  impeding  progress  in  some 
directions  and  by  wasting  and  scattering  force  in 
others.  The  difference  is  both  philological  and 
historic.  Both  terms  are  of  Roman  origin.  "  Uni- 
versitas  "  designated  any  corporate  body  of  which 
the  fundlions  and  powders  were  not  only  common 
to  all  its  members,  but  were  generic  in  charadler. 
^'  Universitas  Civium ''  meant  the  whole  body  of 
citizens  in  most  generic  acceptation,  without  refer- 
ence to  specific  duties,  or  occupations.  The  term 
could  be  applied  to  a  city,  town,  or  province ;  and 

3 


then  nearly  corresponded  to  the  modern  term 
^' Mnnicipal  Corporation.''  So  generic  a  term 
conld  not  fail  to  be  misused  ;  but  through  all  the 
misuse  there  survived  the  fundamental  notion  of 
some  particular  universality.  Otherwise  the  term 
would  have  been  meaningless.  The  term  was 
diffuse,  stretching  over  all  who  could  be  covered 
by  one  political,  or  other  economic,  principle  :  over 
all  who  could  be  brought  within  defined  topograph- 
ical limits. 

''  Collegium  "  was,  in  a  certain  sense,  the  con- 
verse of  "  Universitas.''  It  indicated  a  limited  and 
restridled  body  ;  a  body  drawn  from  the  "  Univer- 
sitas "  for  certain  purposes  and  united  b}^  simi- 
larity of  occupation  or  interest.  Such  was  the 
'^  Collegium  Pontificorm  '' ;  the  college  of  the  Ves- 
tal Virgins,  etc.,  etc.  The  term  survives  in  its 
original  use  in  such  titles  as  "  The  New  York 
College  of  Pj^sicians  and  Surgeons,"  for  instance. 
The  "  Guilds  "  of  the  middle  ages  were  the  legiti- 
mate successors  of  the  Roman  "  Collegia."  The 
term  is  concentric ;  not  necessarily  narrow  and 
selfish,  but  individual.  A  collegiate  philanthropy 
is  limited  ;    not  cosmical. 

When  the   darkness  of  the  middle  ages  began 

to  gleam  with  the  light  of  modern  civilization  the 

term    '^  Universitas "    reappears    to    designate  not 

only  a  large  union  of  masters  and  scholars,  but 

4 


also  the  town  where  they  assemble  to  teach  and 
to  be  tanght.  The  University  of  Paris,  for 
instance,  designated  not  only  the  corporate  body 
of  teachers  and  scholars,  but  also  that  part  of 
the  city  where  the  schools  were  held ;  where 
prevailed  special  university  laws  administered  by 
specially  sele(?ted  nniversity  officers.  Down  to 
the  time  of  Richelien  ^^  I'Universite ''  was  as 
independent  of  the  rest  of  Paris  as  if  it  had 
been  miles  away. 

The  origin  of  the  great  European  nniversities 
of  the  twelfth  and  thirteenth  centuries  is  as  ob- 
scure as  the  origin  of  most  things.  That  large 
and  famous  schools  existed  as  early  as  the  seventh 
century  is  evident,  and  that  the  term  ^'  University  " 
was  used  may  be  inferred ;  but  the  term  first  offi- 
cially appears  at  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century  ; 
and  then  in  bulls,  decrees  and  charters,  issued  by 
popes,  emperors  and  kings,  confirming  rights  and 
privileges  which  as  customs  had  undoubtedlj^  ex- 
isted for  centuries. 

In  1 158  Frederick  Barbarossa  issued  a  decree  to 
the  '^  Universitas  Magistrorum  et  Scholorum ''  of 
Bolognia ;  conveying  among  other  rights,  the 
right  of  students  to  be  tried  by  their  masters ; 
thus  freeing  them  from  the  jurisdidlion  of  the  town 
and  recognizing  the  university  as  an  independent 
and  juristic  body. 

5 


In  1 194  Pope  Celestin  III.  issued  a  decree  of 
similar  import  to  the  ''  clercs  residaiits  a  Paris." 
This  was  followed  in  1200  by  an  edi6l  of  Philip 
Augustus  to  the  "  Universitas-Scholorum "  of 
Paris  prohibiting  the  Provost  of  Paris  from  inter- 
fering with  the  students  in  any  way  whatsoever, 
and  freeing  them  from  the  city's  criminal  and  civil 
processes. 

To  follow  the  history  of  universities  is  too  long 
a  matter  for  articles  intended  for  quick  reading  and 
for  calling  attention  to  present  issues. 

After  the  thirteenth  century  universities  owe 
their  origin  to  popes  and  to  secular  sovereigns. 
A  few  were  established  by  free  cities,  but  their 
degrees  were  little  esteemed. 

The  conclusion  sure  to  be  reached  from  a  study 
of  the  past  and  of  the  present,  is  that  a  university 
should  be  a  place  of  universal  learning ;  where 
faculties  should  subsist  in  substantial  indepen- 
dence ;  where  no  particular  denominational  notions, 
or  personal  prejudices,  should  prevail  to  the  injury 
of  any  legitimate  study ;  and  where  the  presiding 
officer,  call  him  what  you  please ;  redlor,  chancel- 
lor, or  president,  should  be  an  executive  officer,  and 
nothing  more,  ele(?ted  at  short  intervals  by  the  body 
''  Magistrorum  Scholorumque  "  to  see  to  it  that  the 
laws  of  the  university  are  carried  out ;  the  dignity 
of  the  institution  upheld  and  its  interests  advanced. 


A  college,  throughout  the  vicissitudes  of  history 
from  the  time  of  the  Romans  down  has  come  to  be 
an  institution  of  different  and  limited  purposes. 
An  institution  whose  particular  and  individual 
notions  may  express  themselves  and  legitimately 
prevail  without  injury  to  the  general  body.  At 
the  universities  of  England  the  difference  is  so 
sharply  presented  as  to  be  most  easily-  understood. 
A  college,  as  the  term  was  used  during  the  middle 
ages,  designated  a  foundation,  or  charit}^,  to  assist 
poor  students  in  pursuing  their  university  studies. 
The  donor,  or  donors,  could  limit  the  enjoyment 
of  the  charity  by  any  conditions  within  reason 
and  not  opposed  to  the  fundamental  regulations  of 
the  universit}^  Race  and  national  restri(?tions 
were  permitted  as  well  as  limitations  to  selected 
studies.  Certain  monastic  orders  might  be  favored, 
or  certain  social  ranks.  Colleges  in  this  primitive 
acceptation  have  almost  entirely  disappeared  from 
the  Continent.  In  France  successive  revolutions 
have  so  frequently  broken  up  and  changed  institu- 
tions that  connedlion  with  the  past  is  little  more 
than  traditional.  Italy  has  fared  no  better  ;  though 
Bolognia  claims  organic  life  and  continued  univer- 
sity succession  for  a  thousand  years.  In  Germany, 
the  universities  are  of  more  recent  origin  and  sub- 
sist without  the  aid,  or  support,  of  colleges.  In 
England,    however,  the    colleges    have    weathered 

7 


political  gales ;  have  increased  in  strength  and 
power  with  the  increasing  power  of  the  country, 
and  are  to-day  magnificent  evidences  of  private 
contributions  to  the  glorious  permanency  of  the 
foremost  institutions  of  learning  in  the  civilized 
world.  At  Oxford,  perhaps  better  known  to 
Americans  than  Cambridge,  the  colleges  have 
grown  with  the  centuries  till  now  they  are  the 
richest  and  most  influential  of  all  institutions  of 
learning ;  possessing  lands  and  revenues  ;  build- 
ings, ecclesiastical,  scholastic  and  domestic — 
models  of  architedlure ;  distributing  clerical  liv- 
ings and  lay  fellowships  ;  bountifully  rewarding 
diligent  study;  furnishing  learning  with  honor 
and  power.  Each  college  still  has  its  particular 
laws  governing  the  acceptance  of  students  and 
their  behavior  during  residence.  The  instru(?tion 
in  each  is  different.  Though  the  university  alone 
confers  degrees,  each  college  requires  of  students 
certain  collegiate  work  before  they  may  present 
themselves  to  the  university  as  candidates,  and  the 
requirements  vary.  This  colle6lion  of  independ- 
ent institutions  w4thin  the  universality  of  a  uni- 
versity, and  under  its  protedlion,  is  the  form  which 
the  past  of  the  Anglo-Saxon  race  has  accepted  as 
the  best  for  its  educational  development.  The 
present  should  study  it.  Legislators  and  teachers 
should  understand  it  and  should  discuss  modifica- 


tions  the  country  may  require.  But  it  is  high 
time  plans  were  laid ;  general  divisions  marked, 
and  general  principles  established ;  that  schools 
and  colleges  may  grow  up  to,  and  properly  fill, 
their  respective  places  ;  and,  above  all,  that  univer- 
sity learning  may  ever  be  kept  free  from  seClional 
and  sectarian  domination. 

In  view  of  the  faAs  thus  rapidly  set  forth  and 
of  the  self-deducing  principles  a  private  aA  passed 
by  the  legislature  March,  1887,  is  significant  and 
alarming.     The  a6l  reads  as  follows  : 

Resolved  by  this  assembly  :  That  the  use  of  the 
title  ^^  Yale  University  "  by  the  corporation  exist- 
ing under  the  name  of  ^'The  President  and  Fel- 
lows of  Yale  College,  in  New  Haven,"  is  hereby 
authorized ;  and  all  gifts  to,  contrails  with,  con- 
veyances to  or  by,  or  other  a6ls  affedling  said  cor- 
poration, by  either  of  said  names  shall  be  valid ; 
and  the  acceptance  of  this  adl  by  said  corporation, 
shall  not  operate  to  subject  its  charter  to  repeal, 
alteration  or  amendment  within  its  consent. 

Approved,  March  8,  1887. 


II. 

New  Haven  has  a  Law  school  at  the  head  of 
which  is  a  Congregational  clergyman.  New  Haven 
has  a  Medical  school  at  the  head  of  which  is  a 
Congregational  clergyman.  New  Haven  has  a 
Scientific  school  at  the  head  of  which  is  a  Congre- 
gational clergyman.  New  Haven  has  a  school, 
called  the  Department  of  Philosophy  and  Arts,  at 
the  head  of  which  is  a  Congregational  clergyman. 
New  Haven  has  a  school  of  Fine  Arts  at  the  head 
of  which  is  a  Congregational  clergyman.  New 
Haven  has  a  school  of  Astronomy  at  the  head  of 
which  is  a  Congregational  clergyman.  And  New 
Haven  has  a  school  of  Theology  at  the  head  of 
which  is  a  Congregational  clergyman.  There 
wonld  be  no  obje6lions  to  this  latter  arrangement, 
at  least  on  the  part  of  the  Congregationlists,  pro- 
vided the  school  had  the  privilege  of  sele6ling  its 
own  head,  prescribing  his  duties  and  limiting  his 
term  of  office ;  though  of  the  twenty  odd  millions 
of  church  members  in  the  United  States  only  about 
four  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  are  Congregation- 
alists.  Oddly,  the  Congregational  clergyman  who 
is  at  the  head  of  the  Law  school  is  the  very  same 
Congregational  clergyman  who  is  at  the  head  of 
the  Medical  school  and  at  the  head  of  all  the  other 


schools  ;  so  that  special  fitness,  apart  from  being  a 
Congregational  clergyman,  is  not,  and  cannot  be, 
considered  in  the  appointment.  More  oddh^  still, 
these  schools  have  no  voice  whatsoever  in  selecting 
their  one  and  supreme  head.  He  holds  this  most 
important,  most  anthoritative,  and  most  inflnential 
position  ex-officio,  and  merel}'  as  an  appendage  of 
his  headship  of  Yale  College  ;  to  which  latter  posi- 
tion he  is  ele(?ted  for  life  b\'  a  board  of  which  the 
majorit}^  is  a  self-perpetnating  bodj^  composed  of 
Congregational  clergymen  like  himself,  except  that 
their  choice  is  limited  by  the  still  narrower  restric-. 
tion  that  they  mnst  be  residents  of  Conne(?ticnt. 

Nor  is  the  position  merel}^  nominal  and  execn- 
tive.  The  head  of  Yale  College  claims  the  right 
of  vetoing  the  a6ls  of  all  the  faculties,  while  no 
change  in,  or  addition  to  them,  except  in  the  Med- 
ical school,  can  be  made  without  the  consent  of 
this  extraordinary  educational  pontiff,  and  without 
the  concurrence  of  the  modern  American  sacred 
college  back  of  him  !  One  is  inclined  to  rub  one's 
eyes  and  ask  in  wonder:  "  Can  these  things  be; 
and  in  this  the  nineteenth  century  ;  and  in  this 
land  where  freedom  from  denominational  control 
in  every  department  of  life  has  ever  been  a  brave 
boast  ?  It  must  be  a  dream  ;  for  never  in  history 
since  learning  declared,  conquered,  and  maintained, 
independence  of  the  church,  have  such  things  been 


tolerated.  Have  we  gone  back  to  the  middle  ages, 
to  the  times  of  Jesuitical  supremacy?" 

No,  it  is  not  a  dream,  but  another  instance  of 
the  success  of  that  slow,  silent,  skillful  working 
for  power  which  has  charaAerized  churchmen  since 
the  church  first  possessed  secularities.  The  rise 
and  progress  of  this  hierarchy  can  be  traced  in  the 
public  and  private  aAs  of  the  representatives  of 
Connedlicut  all  the  way  from  the  year  1701  when 
the  first  charter  of  Yale  College  was  granted  by 
the  colony  legislature.  For  full  knowledge  the 
a(?ts  of  the  college  itself  should  be  before  the  inves- 
tigator. But  as  well  ask  to  be  shown  the  secret 
transactions  of  the  followers  of  Loyola.  Still 
enough  of  the  past  can  be  got  at  to  fairly  under- 
stand the  present  and  the  duties  it  imposes  upon 
State  representatives  on  the  one  hand,  and  upon 
all  true  lovers  of  their  Alma  Mater  on  the  other. 

The  position  taken  by  those  in  opposition  to  the 
present  regime  is  this.  Far  be  it  from  them  to 
detra(5l  from  the  accomplishments  of  the  college. 
They  are  not  disposed  to  question  its  usefulness 
within  the  limits  prescribed  by  its  charter.  But 
they  claim  it  should  be  kept  within  its  charter  ;  and 
that  its  narrow  and  denominational  government  is 
not  the  government  to  be  spread  over  a  university 
containing  all  the  faculties  and  claiming  national 
recognition.      They   maintain   that  the   state  has 


power  to  interfere  and  that  it  should  exercise  the 
power.  They  are  conscious  of  practical  injury  re- 
sulting from  the  present  regime.  They  honestly 
believe  that  if  denominational  superintendence  and 
control  were  removed,  and  the  various  departments 
made  free  under  a  generic  liberal  and  university 
government,  thousands  of  gifts  and  bequests  would 
flow  into  the  various  treasuries  which  are  now, 
year  bj^  year,  almost  day  by  day,  lost,  or  diverted 
to  other  and  more  liberal  institutions. 

How  many  graduates  of  one's  acquaintance  have 
personal  cognizance  of  such  diversions  and  losses 
immediatelj^  traceable  to  peculiarities  in  the  com- 
position, in  the  a6ls,  and  in  the  manners  of  the 
governing  body  of  Yale  College  ?  It  is  a  sad  com- 
mentary that  Yale's  largest  gifts  come  from  out- 
siders, unacquainted  with  the  workings  of  its  policy, 
while  graduates  hesitate  to  put  their  money  into  the 
hands  of  a  body  where  enlightened  progress  and 
cosmopolitan  culture  are  of  necessity  limited,  and 
where  the  a(?tivity  of  the  forces  at  work  in  the 
outside  world  may  be  only  dimly  seen  through 
the  veil  of  denominational  opposition,  or  the  haze 
of  clerical  indifference.  But  let  the  matter  be  con- 
sidered seriously  and  earnestly,  and  be  judged 
calmly  and  justly. 

Three  points  present  themselves  :  First,  Is  the 
continuance   of   the   present  condition  desirable  ? 

13 


Second,  Has  the  legislature  power  to  terminate  it ; 
and  third,  If  it  have  the  power,  will  it  exercise  it  ? 
That  the  clerical  party  now  governing  the  college 
and  the  various  schools  subjected  to  its  sway  will 
ever  of  its  own  accord  abdicate,  might  as  well  be 
left  out  of  the  calculation  at  once.  That  it  con- 
siders itself  eminently  fitted  for  the  performance 
of  these,  as  well  as  of  all  other  possible  duties,  is 
clerical.  A  clerical  never  surrenders  power.  His 
grip  remains  tight  till  it  is  broken  by  force ;  espe- 
cially is  this  the  case  when  he  is  aggregated  and 
is  not  acfting  personally,  that  is  under  a  sense  of 
personal  justice  or  benevolence.  The  task,  there- 
fore, is  to  convince  the  legislature  of  its  rights, 
and  to  move  it  to  their  assertion.  A  long,  dreary, 
and  well  nigh  hopeless  task,  but  not  to  be  shunned 
by  earnest  conviction  ;  worthy  of  sacrifice  ;  attrac- 
tive to  pugnacity,  and  to  legal  subtlety  and  erudi- 
tion. 

The  legal  points  are  of  generic  law  and  of  the 
interpretation  of  special  statutes. 

A  point  without  legal  intricacies,  and  patent  to 
a  common  sense  understanding  of  the  fundamental 
notion  of  law,  is  this:  ^' Has  Yale  college  the 
power  now,  has  it  ever  had  the  power,  of  creating 
faculties  outside  of  itself,  independent  of  itself  in 
teaching  and  in  the  object  of  teaching,  but  depen- 
dent upon  itself  and  subordinate  to  itself  in  all 
14 


other  particulars?''  Yale  college  has  certainly 
exercised  this  right,  and  so  far  the  state  has  not 
questioned  it.  But  has  not  its  exercise  been  in 
usurpation  of  rights  of  which  the  state  cannot 
divest  itself,  of  which  it  cannot  surrender  control, 
so  long  as  it  remains  a  sovereign  state  ? 

The  extremest  clerical  would  not  claim  for  the 
college  the  power  to  establish,  for  instance,  a  School 
of  Law  endowed  with  all  the  automatical  powers 
necessary  to  make  it  an  honor  and  glory  to  the 
state  ;  the  power  of  regulating  its  own  affairs  ;  of 
dealing  its  own  head  in  accordance  with  its  own 
regulations  ;  of  holding  its  own  property  ;  and  of 
conferring  its  own  degrees.  Then,  pray,  what 
right  has  the  college  to  ere(?t  a  law  faculty  bereft 
of  these  attributes ;  a  faculty  belittled,  hampered 
and  confined  by  clerical  dominations  and  limita- 
tions ? 

Can  the  state  permit  the  clerical  to  say  to  the 
lawyer :  ^^  I  have  better  understanding  of  the 
laws  of  property  than  you,  so  I  will  hold  and  man- 
age your  possessions.  I  am  better  judge  of  legal 
merit  than  you,  so  I  will  appoint  to  your  professor- 
ships. I  can  estimate  desert  with  a  clear  insight 
to  you  unknown,  so  I  will  distribute  your  degrees 
and  your  honors,  your  LL.B's  and  your  LL.D's. 

One  must  pause  awhile  and  reflect  to  recover 
from  the  apparent  absurdity  of  the  position. 

15 


III. 

There  is  a  radical  difiference  between  a  contradl 
and  a  charter.  A  contrail  is  the  voluntary  a(?t  of 
parties  between  whom  there  is  parity  of  position  as 
to  the  subje6l  matter  of  the  contradl  and  above 
whom  there  is  a  superior  party  possessing  requisite 
power  to  enforce  the  instrument,  or  to  inflidl  pen- 
alty for  its  violation.  A  sovereign  state  cannot 
technically  be  a  party  to  a  contrail  because  there 
is  no  superior  sovereignty  to  enforce  it.  A  sover- 
eign state  can  be  sued  only  in  matters  over  which 
it  has  surrendered  sovereignty,  or  of  which  it  per- 
mits question. 

According  to  the  theory  of  the  government  of 
the  United  States  rights  surrendered  to  the  United 
States  b}^  individual  states  cannot  be  resumed,  but 
all  rights  not  surrendered  are  still  enjoyed  by  in- 
dividual states  in  their  sovereign  capacity.  Among 
these  reserved  rights  is  the  right  to  issue  charters, 
and  with  the  right  to  issue  is  necessarily  joined  the 
right  to  modify  and  repeal.  Such  is  the  teaching 
of  the  common  law ;  such  has  ever  been  the  prac- 
tice of  governments.  ^'  Cujus  est  dare  ejus  est  de- 
ponere."  For  stability  in  political  life  there  must 
be  somewhere  an  absolute  and  final  power  from 
which  there  is  no  appeal,  of  which  the  adls  cannot 

i6 


be  questioned.  In  a  republican  form  of  govern- 
ment the  ultimate  power  is  in  the  people.  Their 
Constitutions  and  statutes  show  the  methods  for  its 
manifestation. 

A  charter  is  an  instrument  issued  by  a  state  con- 
ferring upon  individuals  privileges  or  powers,  which 
are  sn^pposed  to  reside  in  the  bosom  of  the  state. 
Among  these  rights  no  one  is  more  honored  than 
the  right  to  confer  degrees.  Any  one  can  open  a 
school  and  give  instruction,  but  in  the  state  alone 
resides  the  power  to  ennoble  learning  by  giving  it 
a  title.  If  the  State  delegate  this  power  to  others, 
it  must  be  exercised  stridlly  in  accordance  with  the 
wording  of  the  instrument  conveying  the  power. 
A  charter  is  in  derogation  of  common  right.  By 
this  legal  term  is  meant  that  a  charter  conveys  to 
a  few  rights  to  which  they  have  no  more  natural 
right  than  others.  The  few  are  favored  to  the  ex- 
clusion of  the  many.  Therefore  a  charter  must  be 
stri(?tly  construed.  The  rights  to  be  exercised 
must  be  most  clearly  and  distinctly  specified.  Any 
doubt  or  ambiguity  is  fatal.  A  college  chartered 
for  certain  purposes  must  confine  its  acclivities 
strictly  to  those  purposes.  A  school  of  divinity 
cannot  confer  degrees  of  law,  nor  a  school  of  law 
degrees  of  divinity.  The  same  principles  apply  to 
other  corporations,  public  or  private.  A  charter 
to  build  and  operate  a  railroad  does  not  carry  per- 

17 


mission  to  open  a  bank ;  though  the  bank  would 
be  of  use  to  the  road.  A  charter  to  a  car  manufac- 
turing companj'  does  not  permit  the  company  to 
lay  rails  and  run  its  cars  thereon.  A  charter  to  a 
savings  bank  does  not  create  a  bank  of  issue.  A 
charter  to  a  mining  company  does  not  convey  power 
to  move  its  ore  to  market  unless  that  particular 
power  be  granted  in  its  charter  ;  unless  the  company 
be  chartered  both  as  a  mining  and  as  a  transporta- 
tion company.  These  simple  principles  are  beyond 
dispute.  Nor  was  the  principle  of  the  right  of  a 
state  of  the  Union  to  alter,  or  recall,  its  grants 
seriously  questioned,  so  far  as  the  writer  knows, 
till  the  time  of  the  celebrated  Dartmouth  case. 
This  case  is  so  remarkable  in  itself,  and  so  perti- 
nent to  the  present  inquiry  that  a  few  of  its  details 
must  be  presented.  To  fully  discuss  the  case 
would  exhaust  the  patience  of  the  ordinary  reader. 
In  1816  the  legislature  of  the  State  of  New  Hamp- 
shire passed  a  bill  increasing  the  number  of  trus- 
tees of  Dartmouth  College  from  12  to  21,  and 
changing  the  name  of  the  institution  to  Dartmouth 
University.  Two  of  the  old  trustees  joined  them- 
selves to  the  new  trustees,  thus  giving  the  new 
body  a  majority.  One  of  the  two  was  a  W.  H. 
Woodward,  treasurer  and  secretary  of  the  old  body. 
When  he  went  over  he  took  with  him  the  original 

charter  granted  by  George  III.,  the  corporate  seal, 
18 


etc.,  etc.  The  case  is  known  as  Dartmouth  Col- 
lege vs.  Woodward  as  pro  forma^  the  a6lion  was 
brought  against  him  for  the  recovery  of  the  afore- 
mentioned property.  The  a6lion  of  the  legislature 
was  extremely  arbitrary.  It  amounted  to  the  de- 
strudlion  of  the  old  body  and  to  the  creation  of  an 
entirely  new  one.  Subsequently  the  legislature 
went  still  further  and  imposed  a  fine  of  $500  on 
any  member  of  the  old  body  who  refused  to  a6l 
with  the  new.  The  case  in  time  came  up  before 
the  highest  court  in  the  State  of  New  Hampshire 
and  was  there  argued  at  length.  It  is  to  be  re- 
gretted that  the  New  Hampshire  reports  do  not 
contain  the  arguments  of  counsel.  The  court  de- 
cided in  favor  of  the  legislature.  The  decision 
given  by  Richardson,  C.  J.,  should  be  read  by 
all  interested  in  college  legislation.  The  broad 
ground  was  taken  that  the  state  could  not  surren- 
der the  supervision  of  its  chartered  institutions  of 
learning,  especially  if  they  had  attained  a  promi- 
nence equal  to  that  of  the  institution  in  question, 
which,  by  its  growth,  had  ceased  to  be  a  private 
corporation  and  had  become  a  public  institution ; 
that  the  affairs  of  such  a  college  concerned  the 
entire  population  ;  that,  as  it  was  a  glorj^  to  the 
state,  so  it  was  the  state's  dutj^  to  preserve  it  in- 
tact, to  hold  it  strictly  to  its  duties,  and  to  prevent 
improper  use  of  its  privileges  and  powers. 

19 


On  a  statement  of  the  fadls  the^case  went  up  to 
the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  ;  the  state 
failing  to  oppose  the  appeal.  It  was  argued  at 
great  length  during  the  month  of  March,  1818. 
Mr.  Webster  spoke  for  two  days.  His  brief  covers 
over  fifty  pages  of  Wheaton  4.  He  was  on  the 
side  of  the  original  trustees  and  held  the  argument 
firmly  to  technicalities.  His  eloquence  and  his 
logic  wxre  irresistible.  He  fairly  carried  the  court 
ofi"  its  feet  and  out  of  its  head.  There  was  but  one 
dissenting  justice,  Duvall.  The  decision  was  that 
the  a6ls  of  the  legislature  of  New  Hampshire  ''  are 
repugnant  to  the  constitution  of  the  United  States 
and  so,  not  valid."  John  Marshall  w^as  Chief  Jus- 
tice and  gave  the  decision  of  the  court ;  but  Justice 
Joseph  Story's  opinion,  also  given  in  Wheaton  4, 
shows  the  superior  lawyer.  It  must  not  be  for- 
gotten that  at  the  time  the  decision  was  given  the 
federalist  party,  to  which  the  majority  of  the  Jus- 
tices were  attached,  was  engaged  in  a  life-and-death 
struggle  with  the  new  Democratic  and  State's 
Rights  party  established  by  Jefferson,  then  known 
as  the  Republican  party,  but  subsequently  and 
still  known  as  the  Democratic  party.  Politics  are 
apt  to  have  their  full  share  in  the  important  de- 
cisions of  the  Supreme  Court. 

The  decision  w^as   accepted,   by    Federalists    at 

least,  as  establishing  the  principle  that  the  clause 
20 


of  the  Constitution  prohibiting  States  from  passing 
laws  impairing  the  validity  of  contra(?ls  applies  to 
charters,  which,  once  granted,  can  neither  be  mod- 
ified nor  repealed  without  the  consent  of  the  bene- 
ficiaries. It  would  be  difficult  nowadays  to  find  a 
disinterested  lawyer  of  eminence  not  of  the  opinion, 
either  that  the  court  went  too  far,  or  that  too  gen- 
eral dedu6lions  have  been  made  from  its  decision. 
There  is  no  better  reading  in  law  literature  than 
Webster's  argument  and  Storej^'s  opinion.  They 
are  the  first  things  to  be  read  by  those  interested 
in  the  matter  under  discussion.  Far  be  it  from  me 
to  pass  judgment.  The  legal  advisers  of  the  state 
were  outclassed.  They  should  have  made  their 
fight  on  the  legality  of  appeal.  By  consenting  to 
the  appeal  they  placed  the  case  in  the  hands  of 
their  enemies.  Their  arguments  as  reported  in 
Wheaton  4.  are  weak,  dreary,  timid  and  illogical. 
They  knew  they  were  whipped.  The  decision  ex- 
cited as  much  uproar  as  did  the  Dread  Scott  case 
many  years  after,  and  as  did  the  legal  tender  case 
within  recent  memor3^  Contemporary  literature 
is  full  of  it.  In  spite  of  the  outcry  of  opposition 
the  decision  was  not  only  accepted  by  state  and 
Federal  Courts,  but  expanded  beyond  the  limits 
originally  contemplated.  Banks,  railroads,  all  con- 
ceivable corporations  took  advantage  of  a  ruling 
which  seemed  in  a  fair  way  to  do  more  for  the  per- 


manency  of  federalism,  and  for  the  destru(?tion  of 
state's  rights,  than  had  ever  entered  the  head  of  the 
extremist  partisan  ;  for  if  a  charter  were  to  be  re- 
garded as  a  contrail  what  a6l  of  man,  or  of  a  body 
of  men,  would  be  safe  from  the  classification,  and 
from  the  domination  of  the  central  government? 
What  would  prevent  even  an  ele(?tion  from  being 
brought  under  this  far-reaching  dodlrine?  The 
several  states,  thereafter,  were  careful  to  insert  in 
charters  clauses  reserving  the  right  to  repeal  or 
change.  Many,  as  a  safeguard  against  future 
carelessness,  passed  general  laws  to  the  effedl  that 
all  charters  should  hereafter  be  granted  with  the 
understanding  that  the  power  to  alter  or  terminate 
was  especially  reserved.  A  law  to  this  efifedl  was 
passed  by  the  legislature  of  Connec^ticut,  but  not 
till  1875.  Of  late  years,  whenever  the  Supreme 
Court  has  had  the  chance,  there  has  been  mani- 
fested an  inclination  to  modify  the  ruling  of  the 
Dartmouth  case.  It  has  been  held,  for  instance, 
that  the  ruling  does  not  apply  to  public  corpora- 
tions— that  is,  those  in  which  the  public  is  inter- 
ested, but  must  be  restric^ted  to  private  and  eleemo- 
synary corporations,  such  as  hospitals,  and  schools 
endowed  by  private  individuals  for  specific  pur- 
poses and  in  no  way  receiving  aid  from  the  state. 
In  1848  it  was  held  that  a  legislature  can  retake 
a  franchise  granted  by  a   charter   upon    making 


compensation.  In  1879  a  still  severer  blow  was 
struck  at  the  Dartmouth  case  by  the  court  holding 
that  the  charter  is  not  thereby  protected,  but  only 
any  contrail  the  charter  may  contain.  These  two 
decisions  seem  to  reduce  the  matter  to  a  question 
of  an  assessment  of  damages.  So  that  if  legisla- 
tion were  of  pradlicable  advantage  to  a  college  the 
boot  would  be  altogether  on  the  other  leg.  There 
can  be  little  doubt  that  if  a  similar  case  was  again 
before  the  Supreme  Court,  the  ruling  in  the  Dart- 
mouth case  would  be  very  much  modified,  if  not 
entirely  reversed.  The  Dartmouth  case  was  de- 
cided in  1 8 19.  The  old  charter  of  Yale  was  con- 
firmed by  the  new  state  government  of  Connedlicut 
in  18 18,  so  that  in  any  case  the  Dartmouth  ruling 
would  be  retrospedlive  and  would  require  a  renewed 
judicial  decision. 

This  very  hasty  sketch  may  serve  as  an  intro- 
dudlion  to  a  more  careful  review  of  the  a6ls  of  legis- 
lation Avhich  relate  to  Yale  College.  If  a  person 
take  up  to-day's  catalogue  of  Dartmouth,  with  the 
celebrated  case  fresh  in  his  mind,  he  will  be  sur- 
prised to  find  that  to  the  names  of  the  successors  of 
the  famous  twelve,  eight  ex-officio  names  have  been 
added.  He  will  be,  perhaps,  still  more  surprised 
to  find  that  to  this  body  have  been  added :  one  ad- 
junct body  of  thirteen  members  ;  another,  of  two  ; 
and  a  third,  of  five.     How  the  heroic  twelve  were 

23 


forced  from  their  high  horses  is  recorded  in  the 
a(?ts  of  the  legislature  of  New  Hampshire.  That 
the  subjedl  matter  from  which  the  Dartmouth  case 
sprang,  and  upon  the  preservation  of  the  integrity 
of  which  so  many  old  fogy  decisions  seem  to  rest, 
should  itself  have  been  disintegrated  by  the  force 
of  public  opinion  and  by  the  onward  march  of  lib- 
eral ideas,  is  an  instructive  circumstance  for  the 
student  of  the  legal  history  of  the  United  States, 
and  of  great  encouragement  to  those  warring 
against  denominational,  and  all  other,  limitations 
and  restri6lions  in  the  government  of  American 
universities. 


24 


IV. 

The  first  charter  of  the  school  of  which  Yale 
College  is  successor  was  granted  in  1701.  It  was 
granted  ''  for  the  fonnding,  suitably  endowing  and 
ordering  a  collegiate  school  *  ^  '^  wherein 
youth  may  be  instru(?ted  in  the  arts  and  sciences, 
who  through  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God  may 
be  fitted  /or  public  employme^tt  both  in  church  and 
civil  state.''  It  was  granted  on  the  petition  of 
^'  several  well  disposed  and  public  spirited  per- 
sons/' prompted  by  ^^  their  sincere  regard  to,  and 
zeal  for  the  upholding  and  propagating  of  the 
Christian  Protestant  religion/'  and  its  intent  was 
that  '^  encouragement  be  given  to  such  pious  reso- 
lutions and  that  so  necessary  and  religious  an 
undertaking  may  be  set  forward,  supported  and 
well  managed." 

The  provisions  of  this  charter  are  well  known. 
The  rights  and  privileges  asked  were  granted  to 
ten  persons  ^^  being  all  reverend  ministers  of  the 
Gospel  and  inhabitants  within  this  said  colony," 
with  power  to  increase  the  number  to  eleven  and 
with  power  to  appoint  successors  drawn  from  the 
same  body  to  which  they  belonged,  ^^  being  over 
forty  years  of  age."  With  the  charter  came  a 
grant  of  ;^i20  a  year  ^^  until  this  court  order  other- 

25 


X 


wise."  This  grant  and  the  words  '^  for  public  em- 
ployment "  sufficiently  indicate  that  the  school  was 
chartered  as  a  public  institution.  Corporate  rights 
were  accorded,  including  the  right  of  holding  real 
property  to  the  value  of  XS^o.  This  is  about  all 
there  is  to  the  original  charter. 

The  part  that  discontented  Harvardites  played 
in  the  foundation  of  Yale  is  recorded  in  Trumbull's 
History  of  Conne6licut,  Vol.  I.,  pp.  500,  501,  and 
in  Josiah  Quincy's  History  of  Harvard  University, 
Vol.  I.,  p.  199  et  seq. 

In  1 701  William  III.  was  still  alive  and  un- 
doubtedly had  not  ceased  grieving  for  the  loss  of 
his  royal  consort.  It  was  part  of  the  policy  of 
William  and  Mary  to  deal  well  and  fairly  with  the 
colonies,  and  these  kind  regards  were  continued  by 
Queen  Anne.  Connedlicut's  troubles  were  not, 
therefore,  with  the  mother  country,  but  with  her 
two  powerful  neighbors,  Massachusetts  and  New 
York — each  greedy  of  her  territories  and  hostile  to 
her  liberties.  The  new  school  was  founded  and 
fostered,  that  candidates  for  the  ministry  should 
not  be  obliged  to  pursue  their  primary  studies 
at  the  school  established  at  Cambridge,  and  that 
Connedlicut  might  have  good  excuse  for  discon- 
tinuing its  subsidies  to  that  institution. 

From  the  founding  of  the  colony,  and  for  many 

years  after,  the  clergy  were  foremost  in  society  for 
26 


learning  and  for  inflnence.  Religious  freedom  was 
the  foundation  stone  of  the  commonwealth.  Re- 
ligious matters  were  the  matters  of  chief  concern. 
Secular  matters  were  referred  to  the  church  for 
adjudication.  The  church  represented  the  courts 
of  justice  of  to-day.  No  wonder  it  attra6led  the 
strongest  manhood  and  the  ablest  intellect:  in  a 
community  where  lawyers  were  exposed  to  arrest 
and  imprisonment  as  common  barrators  though 
guilty  of  nothing  unusual  in  the  profession.  The 
jealous  church  arrogated  to  itself  censorship  over 
all  public  and  private  activities.  For  years  in 
New  Haven  colony  the  right  to  vote  was  limited 
to  church  members  in  good  standing ;  and  you 
would  not  have  to  travel  very  far  from  the  Green 
in  any  dire6lion  to  find  folks  who  would  like  to  see 
the  law  revived.  By  the  church  was  meant  the  Puri- 
tan church,  the  Congregational  church  of  to-day. 
If  the  particular  name  be  not  specified  it  is  because 
the  existence  of  other  denominations  w^as  ignored. 
When  the  New  Haven  colony  was  joined  to  Con- 
necticut, and  there  appeared  a  small  show  for  civil 
government,  John  Davenport,  in  spite  of  his  ex- 
treme age,  was  so  mad  that  in  a  grand  huff  he  wxnt 
back  to  Boston  leaving  his  flock  to  shift  for  itself. 
One  point  about  this  charter.  It  was  granted 
to  individuals  and  on  their  petition.     Story,  in  his 

opinion  in  the  Dartmouth  case,  stated  as  follows : 

27 


^'It  is  a  general  rule  of  the  common  law  that  a 
grant  of  the  king  at  the  suit  of  the  grantee  is  to  be 
construed  most  beneficially  for  the  king,  and  most 
stri(?i:ly  against  the  grantee.  Wherefore,  it  is  usual 
to  insert  in  the  king's  grants  a  clause  that  they 
are  made,  not  at  the  suit  of  the  grantee,  but  of  the 
special  grace,  certain  knowledge,  and  mere  motion 
of  the  king,  and  then  they  receive  more  liberal 
construction."  These  words  occur  in  the  Dart- 
mouth charter.  No  similar  expression  is  to  be 
found  in  any  of  the  Yale  charters. 

According  to  the  triennial  catalogue,  the  college 
at  the  start  must  have  had  a  hard  time  of  it.  In 
1702  there  was  one  graduate.  It  seems  to  have 
been  the  custom  to  confer  the  ALA.  degree  and  the 
B.A.  degree  at  the  same  time.  In  1703  there  was 
another  graduate.  In  1704  there  were  four.  After 
the  name  of  one  of  the  four  is  ''  M.  A.  Harv."  As 
his  name  is  not  in  italics,  the  trustees  and  the  one 
tutor  representing  a  faculty,  probably  found  out 
that  he  was  not  clerically  inclined,  and  so  fired  him 
out  to  finish  his  education  at  Harvard,  where  a  bit 
of  secularity  was  beginning  to  show  itself.  In 
sixteen  years  there  were  but  sixty-one  graduates. 
Of  these  but  fourteen  are  not  honored  with  clerical 
italics.  As  the  clergy  had  the  best  of  everything 
in  those   days,  and  were  consequently  long-lived 

the  supply  was  undoubtedly  sufl&cient. 

28 


The  next  legislation,  so  far  as  the  writer  knows, 
bnt  his  knowledge  is  limited  and  snbje6l  to  authori- 
tative correcftion,  occurred  in  1723,  when  George  I., 
the  German,  was  b}^  his  ways  and  manners  making 
some  Englishmen  think  they  had  been  over  hasty 
in  expelling  the  Stuarts ;  when  the  last  French 
war  was  under  way ;  when  the  first  state  house  at 
Hartford  had  been  ere(5led  and  the  conception  of 
our  own  classical  antiquity  had  still  before  it  more 
than  a  century  of  repose  in  the  womb  of  time ; 
when  the  Saybrook  platform  was  in  full  swing, 
and  w^hen  citizens  were  being  fined  twenty  shillings 
for  absenting  themselves  on  Sundays  from  their 
'^lawful  congregations.'' 

The  a(?t  of  1723  removes  the  forty  year  limit  by 
reducing  it  to  thirty.  It  also  enables  a  majority 
of  the  trustees  present  to  a6l  under  circumstances 
which,  under  the  old  adl,  required  the  presence  of 
a  quorum.  Either  venerable  clergymen  ^'residing 
in  Connedlicut "  were  becoming  scarce  or  they 
were  failing  to  appreciate  the  honor  of  the  posi- 
tion. In  the  adl  the  school  is  sometimes  called  a 
college,  sometimes  a  collegiate  school.  The  school 
is  said  to  have  been  "  eredled ;''  as  if  the  building 
defined  the  term.  The  title  ''Yale  College'' 
appears.  The  trustees  moreover  are  given  power 
to  appoint  a  re6lor  and  a  clerk.  The  point  of  im- 
portance   to    this    discussion    is    that    it    nowhere 

29 


appears  in  the  a(?t  that  the  changes  were  efFecfted 
with  the  consent,  or  even  on  the  application,  of  the 
trustees.  The  general  assembly  had  no  doubt  of  its 
authority  to  regulate  a  college  of  its  own  creation. 

Then  comes  the  a(?t  of  1745.  As  this  a(?t  created 
the  charter  substantially  as  it  exists  to-day,  some 
of  its  provisions  must  be  carefully  examined.  The 
a6l  sets  forth  the  adls  of  170 1  and  1723  ;  and  then, 
stating  that  the  present  a(5l  is  on  the  petition  of  the 
trustees,  ena6ls,  ordains  and  declares  as  follows : 

I  St.  That  the  trustees  shall  be  an  incorporate 
society  or  body  corporate,  and  known  by  the  name 
of  "  The  President  and  Fellows  of  Yale  College." 

2d.  That  gifts  and  bequests  made  to  the  college 
under  any  name,  when  the  intent  is  clear,  shall  be 
vested  in  the  president  and  fellows  aforesaid. 

3d.  That  the  president  and  fellows  may,  and 
shall,  have  a  common  seal. 

The  fifth  paragraph  regulates  meetings. 

The  sixth  relates  to  the  perpetuating  of  the 
body  by  eledlions,  and  apparently  gives  the  body, 
by  special  grant,  the  power  of  removing  a  member. 
The  wording  is  obscure.  A  trustee,  or  president, 
may  be  removed  "  whom  the  said  Governor  and 
company  hereby  declares  for  any  misdemeanor, 
unfaithfulness,  or  incapacity,  shall  be  removed  by 
the  president  and  the  fellows  of  the  said  college, 
six  of  them  concurring  in  the  such  adl.''  This 
30 


probablj^  means  that  it  was  recognized  that  the 
power  to  expel  was  lodged  in  the  hands  of  the 
Governor  and  company,  that  is,  the  General  As- 
sembly ;  and  that  this  power  was  granted  in  antici- 
pation for  each  case  as  it  might  arise.  Whether 
the  fellows  would,  under  the  clause,  have  the 
power  to  remove  a  president,  is  doubtful.  Prob- 
ably this  could  only  be  done  by  direcft  a6l  of  the 
legislature.  In  this  paragraph  the  word  '^  univer- 
sity "  occurs  for  the  first  time.  The  trustees  are 
given  the  power  to  appoint  all  such  officers,  pro- 
fessors, etc.,  usually  appointed  in  '^colleges,  or 
universities."  Conne6licut  legislators  even  as  late 
as  1745  had  vague  notions  of  the  distindlive  fea- 
tures of  schools,  colleges  and  universities. 

The  eighth  paragraph  is  very  important.  The 
power  of  the  president  and  fellows  to  manage  the 
affairs  of  the  college  in  all  detail  is  fully  and  clearly 
set  forth.  The  important  part  is  the  last  clause. 
^^  Which,"  that  is,  the  a6ls  of  the  president  and 
fellows,  ''  shall  be  laid  before  this  assembly  as 
often  as  required,  and  may  also  be  repealed  or  dis- 
allowed by  this  assembly  when  they  shall  think 
proper."  If  this  clause  has  not  been  repealed,  then 
the  people  of  Conne6licut  have  through  their  rep- 
resentatives all  necessary  power  for  correcting 
abuses,  and  are  responsible  for  their  continuance. 
The  writer  so  far  has  failed  to  find  any  record  of 

31 


such  repeal  though  the  clause  does  not  appear  in 
the  charter  as  published  in  last  year's  catalogue, 
and  the  catalogue  states  that  all  permanent  provis- 
ions of  the  charter  ate  given.  Until  this  point  is 
settled  in  favor  of  the  clerical  party,  it  is  unneces- 
sary to  argue  on  general  principles  against  them, 
for  with  that  clause  in  continuing  existence  they 
have  not  a  leg  to  stand  on. 

Under  the  clause  the  legislature  can  render  the 
charter  inoperative,  and  thus  kill  it  deader  than  a 
door  nail. 

The  ninth  paragraph  gives  the  president  and 
fellows  power  to  confer  all  degrees  as  are  usually 
given  in  ^'  colleges  or  universities."  This  para- 
graph is  also  of  great  importance,  for  on  it,  as  is 
understood,  the  college  bases  its  powers  to  establish 
schools  and  confer  degrees  outside  of  its  own  im- 
mediate funcftions,  and  to  continue  the  same  Puri- 
tanical superintendence  of  law,  medicine,  science 
and  art  which  existed  in  1692,  for  instance,  when 
good  old  souls  who  could  not  stand  long  sermons 
and  nasal  psalm  squealing  were  called  witches  and 
condemned  to  death  accordingly.  A  little  whole- 
some and  common  sense  legislation  may  be  neces- 
sary to  make  clear  to  Congregational  insight  the 
difference  between  the  two  words. 

The  tenth  paragraph  is  delightful.  A  pity  it 
were  not  in  existence.  Under  it  any  soul  in  any 
32 


way  permanently  conneAed  with  the  college,  both 
he  and  his  possessions  enjoyed  freedom  from  rates, 
taxes,  military  service,  etc.,  etc.  Even  the  modern 
sweep  would  have  reaped  the  benefit. 

The  eleventh  paragraph  grants  the  president 
and  fellows  for  the  nse  of  the  college  "  one  hnndred 
ponnds  silver  money  a  year  at  the  rate  of  six  shil- 
lings and  eight  pence.''  How  mnch  that  would 
amount  to  to-day  may  be  figured  out  by  the  curious. 
^'  This  payment  to  be  continued  during  the  pleas- 
ure of  this  assembly." 

The  ruling  in  the  Dartmouth  case  has  as  little 
to  do  with  the  construing  of  such  a  charter  as  it 
has  to  do  with  the  regulating  of  the  planetary 
system. 


33 


V. 

The  charter  of  1745  was  framed  and  granted — 
^'  imposed  "  might  be  a  better  term — dnring  the 
presidency  of  Thomas  Clapp,  the  sturdy  upholder 
of  the  college's  autonomJ^  The  clause  giving  the 
General  Assembly  power  to  "  repeal  or  disallow  " 
all  a6ls  of  the  corporation  must  have  sent  a  cold 
chill  down  his  venerable  back,  but  such  unpopu- 
larity had  followed  his  bigoted  opposition  to  the 
Whitefield  revivalists  that  he  and  his  followers 
swallowed  the  prescribed  dose  in  discretionary 
silence. 

The  charter  of  1745  is  a  well  constru6led  docu- 
ment. It  is  clearly  and  succin(?tly  worded.  No 
better  example  had  as  yet  been  given  by  a  legisla- 
tive body. 

Next  in  chronological  order  comes  the  very  im- 
portant amendment  of  1792.  In  this  year,  to  be 
brief,  the  state  having  on  hand  a  large  amount  of 
surplus  money  and  being  willing  to  grant  a  portion 
to  the  college,  desiring,  moreover,  that  the  question 
of  authority  should  be  settled  once  for  all,  and  peace- 
fully if  possible,  made  a  proposition  to  the  president 
and  fellows.  The  proposition  was  substantially  to 
theeffe6l  that  the  sum  of  "  two  thousand  five  hun- 
dred pounds,  lawful  money  "  should  be  donated  to 
34 


the  college  ''  for  the  ere6lion  of  a  new  building  or 
college,  for  the  reception  and  accommodation  of  the 
students;''  and  that  the  residue,  if  any,  should  be 
turned  into  a  fund  "  for  raising  an  annual  revenue 
forever  hereafter  to  be  applied  to,  and  for  the  sup- 
port of,  necessary  professors  in  the  various  arts 
and  sciences,  for  the  benefit  of  said  college."  The 
condition  affixed  to  the  gift  was  that  the  Governor 
and  Lieutenant  Governor  and  "  six  senior  assist- 
ants in  the  council  of  the  state  "  should  be  fellows 
of  the  college,  and  that  the  presence  of  at  least 
four  of  these  new  members  should  be  necessarj^  to 
constitute  a  quorum  for  the  transadlion  of  any  and 
all  college  business.  After  a  month's  considera- 
tion, finding  no  way  out  of  the  dilemma.  President 
Stiles  and  his  clerical  associates,  making  virtue  of 
necessity,  accepted.  The  new  college,  now  South 
college,  was  called  Union  college  to  commemorate 
the  termination  of  strife  ;  the  new  fellows  entered 
upon  the  discharge  of  their  duties  ;  all  was  serene  ; 
only  an  occasional  bump  disturbed  happiness.  It 
is  the  greatest  pity  in  the  world  that  the  arrange- 
ment was  ever  disturbed  and  terminated.  The 
reader  will  perceive  that  up  to  this  time  "  college  " 
was  a  vague  term ;  as  applicable  to  a  building  as 
to  an  institution.  Here  might  be  inserted  a  dis- 
cussion of  the  necessity  a  state  is  under  to  preserve 
a  superintendence  of  all  the  institutions  of  learning 

35 


within  its  borders.  The  theme  is  as  old  as  the 
dialogues  of  Plato.  Argnments  in  its  support 
could  be  drawn  from  history  since  the  establish- 
ment of  the  first  republic.  Certainly  a  state 
should  create  no  institution  of  learning  which 
it  is  not  capable  of  understanding  and  superintend- 
ing, and  which  is  not  in  practical  sympathy  with  its 
own  growth.  But  these  papers  are  simply  for  the 
presentation  of  a  few  fadls  with  the  hope  of  eliciting 
more  facets,  so  that  all  the  facets  of  Yale's  position 
and  necessities  may  be  known  to  the  alumni. 

Between  1792  and  1834  sundry  ac^ts  were  passed 
by  the  legislature  to  accommodate  old  provisions 
to  the  new  constitution  of  the  state  and  to  make 
efFe(?tual  the  state's  grants.  There  is  nothing  in 
these  a6ls  to  change  the  fundamental  provisions  of 
the  charter  of  1745,  though  one  most  important 
fa6l  must  be  noticed. 

The  new  state  constitution  was  adopted  in  1818, 
one  year  before  the  decision  in  the  Dartmouth  case. 
One  of  its  clauses  is  as  follows  :  "  The  charter  of 
Yale  College,  as  modified  by  agreement  with  the 
corporation  thereof,  in  pursuance  of  an  a(?t  of  the 
General  Assembly,  passed  in  May,  1792,  is  hereby 
confirmed.''  The  question  naturally  arises,  does 
this  confirmation  in  a  distin(?t  article  of  the  consti- 
tution operate  to  make  the  charter  such  a  compo- 
nent part  of  the  constitution  that  its  terms  can 
36 


only  be  altered  in  the  manner  the  constitution  pro- 
vides for  its  own  revision  ;  that  is,  by  submission 
to  the  people  on  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  assembly. 
If  this  be  so,  then  all  college  legislation  since  1818, 
not  consistent  with  the  charter  of  1745  as  modified 
in  1792,  is  void.  But  as  such  legislation  has  taken 
place,  it  must  be  concluded  that  in  the  opinion  of 
Connedlicut  lawyers  and  legislators  the  article  in 
question  was  only  an  announcement  on  the  part 
of  the  people  of  the  state  that  they  took  Yale  Col- 
lege under  their  particular  care  and  protedlion. 
That  no  amendment  to  the  constitution  has  been 
offered  confirming  the  charter  of  Trinity,  formerly 
Washington,  or  of  Wesleyan,  emphasizes  this  dis- 
tin(?tion.  Yale  is  preeminently  the  state's  insti- 
tution. Or  it  may  be  that  the  article  was  intro- 
duced for  buncombe ;  as  a  sop  to  the  Puritan 
clericals  who,  as  is  well  known,  were  bitterly 
opposed  to  the  new  constitution  as  they  recognized 
in  its  adoption  the  termination  of  their  supremacy 
in  civil  matters. 

Another  point.  If  the  charter  be  part  of  the 
constitution,  then  it  certainly  cannot  be  regarded 
as  a  contra6l  under  the  Dartmouth  case,  for  the 
free  a6l  of  a  people  as  expressed  in  a  constitution 
has  nothing  in  common  with  a  contract. 

The  fourth  se6lion  of  the  first  article  of  the  con- 
stitution is  also  of  importance  in  the  matter  under 

37 


discussion.  It  reads  :  "  No  preference  shall  be 
given  bj^  law  to  any  Christian  sedl  or  mode  of 
worship."  The  existing  government  of  Yale  is  in 
violation  of  this  fundamental  law  of  the  state. 

The  next  a6l  of  general  interest  is  the  adl  of 
1838.  The  important  part  of  the  a6l  is  as  follows  : 
^'  Whenever  there  shall  be  present  at  any  future 
meetings  of  the  corporation  of  Yale  College  a 
majority  of  the  fellows  thereof,  such  majority  shall 
constitute  a  quorum  for  the  transaction  of  business, 
provided  there  be  present  a  majority  of  those  who 
are  by  eledlion  successors  of  the  original  trustees 
thereof  This  was  a  great  victory  for  the  cleri- 
cals, as  it  enabled  them  to  proceed  to  business, 
without  the  presence  of  the  four  state  members, 
whose  presence  was  required  by  the  adi  of  1792. 
It  also,  by  requiring  the  presence  of  the  clerical 
members,  took  from  the  other  members  all  power 
of  contributing  to  the  formation  of  a  quorum.  For 
instance  ;  if  the  Governor,  the  Lieutenant  Gover- 
nor, and  their  six  ^'assistants''  were  present,  and 
but  two  clericals,  this  would  constitute  a  majority 
of  the  whole  body.  But  they  could  not  proceed  to 
business  till  four  more  clericals  had  arrived ;  that 
is,  without  the  presence  of  a  majority  of  the  cleri- 
cals. The  state  members  must  have  grown  very 
careless  in  the  discharge  of  their  duty  to  make 
such  a  law  necessary,  and  state  legislators  must 
38 


have  grown  lax  in  the  discharge  of  their  duty  to 
make  the  passage  of  such  a  law  possible.  This 
surrender  of  state  interest  and  superintendence  is 
the  worst  piece  of  legislation  in  the  history  of  the 
institution.  Thereafter  and  ever  since  the  clericals 
have  had  their  own  way.  Their  discussions  are 
held  behind  closed  doors.  Their  adls  are  shrouded 
in  darkness.  Their  fiats  alone  come  to  light. 
Attendance  on  the  part  of  the  state  members 
naturally  fell  off  till  it  virtually  ceased. 

From  1838  till  187 1  there  does  not  seem  to  have 
been  any  legislation  of  public  interest.  The  cleri- 
cals were  in  full  swing.  The  college  could  not 
help  having  a  share  in  the  general  growth  and 
prosperity  of  the  country.  Besides,  the  Congre- 
gational church  was  still  large  and  influential,  and 
modern  notions  were  not  as  yet  prevalent. 

About  i860  there  was  a  revival  of  the  interest  of 
graduates  in  the  institution.  The  idea  was  started 
that  graduates  were  still  members  and  that  as 
members  they  had  duties  and  rights  ;  the  right  of 
representation ;  the  right  of  knowing  how  the 
institution  was  governed  ;  how  its  property  was 
managed ;  what  use  w^as  made  of  their  gifts,  etc. 
This  spirit  once  alive  soon  became  so  strong  that 
the  clericals  were  forced  to  recognize  it.  They 
undoubtedly  thought,  ''  How  can  we  satisfy  this 
manifestation  with  the  least  sacrifice  of  our  own 

39 


position?"  The  device  they  excogitated  was  so 
clever  that  graduates  are  still  admiring  the  astute- 
ness of  the  clerical  intelledl  when  pushed.  It  con- 
sisted in  substituting  graduates  for  the  "  assistant '' 
state  members,  leaving  the  Governor  and  Lieu- 
tenant Governor.  The  clericals  knew  the  state 
members  would  be  glad  to  quit  positions  their  care- 
lessness had  permitted  to  be  shorn  of  power ;  and 
they  thought  the  graduates  would  be  so  puffed  up 
with  their  new  honor  that  it  would  be  quite  a  time 
before  they  discovered  its  emptiness.  They  were 
right  in  their  calculations  ;  but  the  time  of  dis- 
covery has  fully  come. 

The  provisions  of  the  a6l  of  187 1  are  well  known. 
The  graduates  may  ele6l  each  year  a  representa- 
tive to  serve  six  years.  So  there  are  always  six 
graduate  members  of  the  corporation ;  bu.t  the 
restri6lions  of  the  law  of  1838  subsist,  and  gradu- 
ate members  count  for  nothing  in  the  formation  of 
a  quorum. 

The  law  of  187 1  contains  moreover  the  singular 
provision  that  the  eledlions  shall  be  ''  under  such 
regulations  as  the  president  and  fellows  shall  pre- 
scribe.'' As  a  majority  of  the  graduates  are  not 
supposed  to  be  in  sympathetic  harmony  with  the 
clericals,  this  is  very  much  as  if  the  voting  of  the 
democratic  partj^,  for  instance,  were  to  be  done 
under  regulations  prescribed  b}^  the  republican 
40 


party.  iVs  a  matter  of  fa6l  not  a  graduate  has  been 
eledled,  or  probably  ever  will  be,  without  clerical 
endorsement. 

Positions  are  generally  bestowed  upon  such  men 
as  Evarts,  Depew  or  Phelps,  who  regard  them  as 
sinecure  honors,  and  who  have  neither  time  nor 
volition  to  devote  themselves  seriously  to  college 
affairs.  Besides,  if  all  the  graduate  members  and 
the  two  state  officials  should  combine,  the  odds 
would  still  be  ten  to  eight  against  them,  with  a 
clerical  president  over  all  who  claims  the  power  to 
veto  the  a(?ts  of  the  very  body  that  created  him. 
No  sensible  graduate  will,  under  the  circumstances, 
allow  himself  to  be  put  in  nomination  unless  he 
be  backed  by  the  machine  and  be  prepared  to  run 
with  it.  Among  the  "  regulations  "  "  prescribed  " 
by  the  party  in  power,  s©me  are  peculiar. 

Every  graduate  has  read  the  slip  he  receives 
each  spring  inviting  him  to  make  a  nomination. 
The  slip  states  that  '^  the  names  of  all  persons  who 
are  nominated  by  as  many  as  twenty-five  eledlors 
shall  be  announced  after  Maj^  ist."  The  plain, 
common  sense  meaning  of  this  is,  that  if  the  right 
to  nominate  be  exercised  at  all,  it  must  be  exercised 
before  the  first  of  May.  The  legal  interpretation 
of  the  term  ^' after  May  ist''  would  undoubtedly 
be  "^  immediately  after  May  ist,"  precluding  the 
•reception  of  votes  after  that  date,  and  demanding 

41 


the  announcement  of  the  result  as  soon  after  as 
possible.  This  is  not,  however,  the  interpretation 
put  on  the  term  b\^  the  part}^'  in  power.  It  claims, 
and  exercises,  the  right  of  keeping  the  polls  open 
as  long  as  it  pleases,  and  of  not  announcing  the 
result  till  it  is  ready.  Under  such  an  arrangement 
all  sorts  of  queer  things  are  possible.  For  instance  ; 
if  on  May  ist  it  should  appear  that  no  friend  of 
the  clericals  had  been  nominated,  and  a  pronounced 
enemy  had,  it  would  not  require  very  much  scurry- 
ing about  to  secure  the  few  votes  necessarj^  to  put  up 
against  him  the  party  best  equipped  to  smash  him. 
Again,  Regulation  No.  2.  The  powers  that  be 
proclaim  the  right  of  throwing  out  all  ballots  of 
which  all  the  written  part  is  not  in  the  same  hand- 
writing. They  don't  say  they  will,  they  say  they 
may.  They  propose  exercising  discretion  in  the 
matter.  They  moreover  state  that  they  themselves 
are  to  be  the  judges  of  the  handwriting.  As  it  is 
not  safe  for  a  man  nowadays  to  swear  to  his  own 
handwriting,  think  of  the  power  reserved  in  this 
"  regulation."  The  editor  of  the  Hartford  Cotirant 
was  quite  right  in  stating  that  it  would  be  far  better 
and  easier  for  the  clericals  to  appoint  the  graduate 
members  diredlly  and  immediately.  No  graduate 
in  opposition  can  possibly  be  ele(?ted.  He  can't 
carry  the  handicap.     He  is  a  fool  to  try.      Do  let 

the  ridiculous  farce  be  stopped. 
42 


One  point  is  unanswerable.  If  representative 
graduates  be  admitted  to  the  corporation,  the  cor- 
poration by  that  adl  becomes  a  public  and  repre- 
sentative body,  and  its  deliberations  must  be  made 
public.  Otherwise  the  fundamental  rule  govern- 
ing all  representative  bodies  is  violated.  Gradu- 
ates have  the  same  right  to  know  how  their 
representatives  are  representing  them,  that  citizens 
have  to  know  how  their  representatives  in  Con- 
gress, or  in  State  Legislatures,  are  performing  the 
duties  with  which  they  have  been  entrusted. 


43 


VI. 

The  last  clause  of  the  a(?t  of  187 1  is  as  follows : 
''  The  acceptance  of  this  a(?t  by  said  corporation 
shall  not  operate  to  make  the  charter  of  said  cor- 
poration as  heretofore  amended,  subjedl  to  repeal, 
alteration  or  amendment,  without  the  consent  of. 
said  corporation." 

This  needs  explanation.  Certain  laws  govern- 
ing corporations  were  passed  in  1845.  These  laws 
stand  to-day  substantially  as  they  were  passed. 
The  one  to  the  point  provides  (G.  S.  of  1888,  page 
416,  Sec.  191 1)  that  the  acceptance  of  an  amendment 
to  a  charter  ''  shall  operate  to  make  the  original 
charter  and  all  resolutions  amending  and  altering 
the  same,  subje6l  to  amendment,  alteration,  or  re- 
peal, at  the  pleasure  of  the  General  Assembly,"  ''  if 
it  be  not  otherwise  specially  provided  in  the  resolu- 
tion." Therefore  if  this  final  clause  had  not  been 
added  there  would  remain  no  doubt  as  to  the  pres- 
ent power  of  the  General  Assembly  over  the 
college. 

The  objed  of  the  law  of  1845  is  evident.  The 
people  of  Connedlicut  determined  to  observe  the 
constitution  and  to  put  an  end  to  all  monopolies  so 
far  as  in  them  lay.  A  method  devised  was  to  pre- 
vent corporations  possessing  independent  charters 
44 


from  changing,  or  amending  them,  without  surren- 
der of  independence  and  acceptance  of  the  general 
corporation  laws  of  the  state.  The  pity  is  that  a 
saving  clause  was  introduced  into  the  a6l,  and  that 
the  a6l  in  its  simplicity  was  not  made  a  part  of  the 
constitution. 

As  in  the  college  charter  of  1745,  as  already  seen, 
the  General  Assembly  reserved  the  right  to  repeal, 
or  disallow,  the  a6ls  of  the  president  and  fellows, 
it  does  not  at  first  appear  why  a  clause  should  have 
been  added  to  the  college  law  of  187 1  which,  accord- 
ing to  the  reading  of  the  law  of  1845,  was  only  to 
be  used  in  the  case  of  corporations  over  which  the 
General  Assembly  had  no  control,  and  over  which 
it  did  not  propose  to  assume  control.  If,  however, 
it  be  the  policy  of  the  college  to  ignore  the  existence 
of  the  clauses  of  the  charter  of  1745  which  give 
the  General  Assembly  power  over  it ;  if  it  claim 
independence  of  the  legislative  body  ;  then,  to  be 
consistent,  it  must  demean  itself  as  one  of  those 
antiquated  and  inconsequent  bodies,  fortunately 
few  in  number,  which  still  possess  a  being  inde- 
pendent of  the  state  by  which  they  are  surrounded 
and  nourished.  If  this  be  the  reason,  then  the 
addition  of  the  final  clause  is  but  a  sorry  device  to 
blind  the  eyes  of  the  superficial  enquirer  and  de- 
ceive the  wits  of  the  careless  investigator.  It 
certainly  can  have  no  effecft  in  classing  the  charter 

45 


of  Yale  with  those  charters  which,  like  the  charter 
of  the  Derby  turnpike,  for  instance,  are  still  beyond 
the  reach  of  legislative  a(?tion.  This  final  clause 
leaves  the  charter  precisely  in  the  same  relations 
to  the  General  Assembly  as  before  the  passage  of 
the  a(?t.  It  cannot  be  that  a  clause  of  a  law  in- 
tended to  make  charters  amenable  to  legislative 
enactments  should  have  the  efifeCls  of  making  a 
charter  heretofore  amenable  no  longer  amenable. 
It  is  more  becoming,  however,  in  these  investiga- 
tions to  suppose  that  the  parties  who  drafted  these 
various  a6ls  were  firm  and  honest  believers  in  the 
college's  autonomy. 

From  187 1  till  1887  no  college  legislation  ap- 
pears. In  1887  an  adl  was  passed  which  at  the 
first  glance  seems  insignificant,  but  which  the 
more  closely  it  is  examined  the  more  pregnant  it 
appears.  It  is  worded  as  follows  :  ''  That  the  use 
of  the  title  '  Yale  University  '  by  the  corporation 
existing  under  the  name  of  '  the  president  and 
fellows  of  Yale  College,  in  New  Haven,'  is  hereby 
authorized,  and  all  gifts  to,  contra6ls  with,  convey- 
ance to  or  by,  or  other  a6ls  affeCling  said  corpora- 
tion, by  either  of  said  names,  shall  be  valid ;  and 
the  acceptance  of  this  adi  by  said  corporation  shall 
not  operate  to  subject  its  charter  to  repeal,  altera- 
tion or  amendment  without  its  consent. 

'' Approved  March  8,  1887." 
46 


The  final  clause,  being  similar  to  the  final  clause 
of  the  a6l  of  1871,  needs  no  further  explanation. 
The  body  of  the  a6l  confers  upon  Yale  College  the 
privilege  of  calling  itself  Yale  University  whenever 
it  chooses  ;  and  apparently  that  is  the  whole  of  it. 
College  authorities  state  that  the  obje(?t  of  the  a6l 
is  to  prevent  the  loss  of  gifts  and  bequests  from 
parties  w^ho  in  wills  and  deeds  might  carelessly 
use  the  word  ''  University  "  instead  of  the  word 
''  College." 

If  John  Smith  tire  of  his  plebeian  name  and  pre- 
fer to  be  known  as  Vanderbilt  Astor  McAlister 
Smith  no  one  will  oppose  his  harmless  vanity.  In 
fa6l  there  is  a  statute  expressly  provided  for  such 
mild  eccentricities.  If  a  John  Smith  keep  a  store 
and  think  the  addition  of  ''  &  Co."  to  his  name 
would  attra6l  more  customers,  there  is  no  terrible 
penalty  in  the  way  of  the  addition.  i\n  explana- 
tion to  the  enquiring  officials  that  the  addition 
was  for  buncombe  would  be  accepted.  Not  one 
customer  in  a  hundred  would  insist  upon  seeing 
the  ''  Co."  John  Smith  would  rarely  be  called 
on  to  fib.  But  if  John  Smith  turn  himself  into 
^' The  John  Smith  Manufa(?turing  Company/'  then 
John  Smith  will  cease  to  be  an  individual  and 
must  have  himself  properly  incorporated.  As  far 
as  he  is  a  company  so  far  he  ceases  to  be  under 
the  laws  of  persons  and  comes  under  the  laws  of 

47 


corporations.  By  parity  of  reasoning,  when  a 
college  ceases  to  be  a  college  and  becomes  a  uni- 
versity it  becomes  subje(?t  to  the  laws  governing 
universities.  If  there  be  no  laws  in  a  state  relat- 
ing to  universities,  no  university  can  legally  exist 
till  laws  be  made  and  provided  thereunto  relating. 
If  the  difference  between  a  college  and  a  univer- 
sity has  been  made  clear,  then  it  is  evident  that  a 
college  can  no  more  become  a  university  by  calling 
itself  a  university  than  John  Smith  can  become 
the  John  Smith  Manufac^turing  Company  by 
change  of  title  and  by  nothing  more.  The  object 
of  this  legislation  is  becoming  obvious.  Is  it  not 
to  spread  the  laws  of  Yale  College  over  the  other 
departments  of  learning  bearing  the  name  of  Yale, 
and  to  confirm  the  policy  by  which  the  absurd 
spe6lacle  is  presented  of  schools  of  law,  medicine, 
science,  and  art,  controlled  and  governed  by  a  self- 
perpetuating  body  of  Congregational  clergymen  ? 
And  may  not  its  indirect  objec?t  be  to  prevent  here- 
after moneys  being  donated,  or  bequeathed,  to  any 
department  of  the  institution  but  the  one  known 
as  Yale  College  ?  Is  this  not  the  technical  mean- 
ing, may  it  not  be  the  latent  intent,  of  the  a(?t  ? 
Have  any  graduates  had  their  attention  called  to 
the  possibilities  of  this  extraordinary  bit  of  legis- 
lation ?       That    the    college    authorities    propose 

regarding  the  a6l  as  conferring  something  more 

48 


than  the  permission  to  use  the  name  "  Univer- 
sity "  at  will  is  evident.  It  seems,  as  has  already 
been  intimated,  as  if  they  proposed  regarding  the 
a6l  as  an  a(?t  creating  a  university,  and  conferring 
the  powers  and  position  of  a  university  on  Yale 
College  by  confirming  it  in  its  control  or  the  other 
parts  of  the  institution :  thus  miaking  a  part 
superior  to  the  whole  and  supreme  over  the  whole. 
The  catalogues  published  since  the  passage  of  the 
a6l  are  evidence.  They  bear  the  title  "  Catalogue 
of  Yale  University."  Then  comes  the  list  of  the 
faculty  and  instructors  :  President,  Rev.  Timothy 
Dwight,  D.D.,  LIv.D.  President  of  what?  Presi- 
dent of  the  university  of  course.  Nothing  else 
has  as  yet  been  mentioned.  Subsequenth^  appear 
the  pages  devoted  to  the  academic  department, 
which,  in  brackets,  is  proclaimed  to  be  Yale  Col- 
lege proper.  Here  the  distincftion  is  clearly  in- 
dicated and  the  existence  of  a  university  apart 
from  the  college  frankly  admitted.  President  of 
the  academic  department — Rev.  Timothy  Dwight, 
D.D.,  LL.D.,  and  so  on  throughout;  his  name 
appearing  at  the  head  of  each  department,  and  as 
its  president.  If  he  w^ere  president  of  the  univer- 
sity, to  begin  with,  and  ex-officio  president  of  the 
various  departments,  it  might  appear  a  trifle  less 
singular.  But  he  is  all  these  presidents  simply 
and  solel}^  because  he  is  the  president  of  the  aca- 

49 


demic  and  undergraduate  department ;  a  depart- 
ment which  in  scholarship  takes  rank  below  all 
the  others.  It  is  difficult  to  write  seriously  of  so 
extraordinary  a  condition.  How  odd  it  is  that  the 
absurdity  of  placing  one  and  the  same  Congrega- 
tional clergyman  over  the  various  schools  consti- 
tuting Yale  should  never  have  occurred  to  Connec- 
ticut's legislators  !  How  quickly  the  incongruity 
would  have  been  made  evident  to  them  if  a  physi- 
cian, for  instance,  had  been  placed  over  the  theo- 
logical school ;  or  a  body  of  lawyers  had  been 
placed  in  charge  of  the  medical  department !  And 
yet  the  existing  condition  is  no  less  opposed  to 
common  sense.  If  the  adl  be  allowed  to  stand, 
year  by  year  advantage  will  be  taken  of  it  till  age 
has  solidified  the  provisions  which  in  it  are  vague 
and  obscure,  as  if  put  timidly  and  tentatively. 

The  objedl  of  these  papers  has  been  to  put  before 
graduates  the  statutory  history  of  the  college. 
This  task  seems  sufficiently  accomplished.  There 
is  growing  in  the  minds  of  graduates  a  persuasion 
that  the  present  state  of  things  cannot  last  much 
longer.  May  the  present  generation  live  to  enjoy 
the  realization  of  their  fondest  hopes. 

The  clerical  answer  to  objedlions  is  always: 
^^  Who  could  manage  the  institution  better?"  If 
the  a6ls  of  the  corporation  relating  to  the  depart- 
ment with  which  I  was  connedled  could  be  exposed 
50 


the  rejoinder  would  be:  ^' Who  could  have  man- 
aged a  department  Avorse  ?"  Not  for  me  the  task, 
however,  unless  on  citation  ;  for  even  at  this  dis- 
tance of  time  I  am  sure  I  could  not  approach  the 
subje6l  dispassionately  and  with  a  stridlly  impar- 
tial and  judicial  mind. 

It  is  not  fair,  however,  to  infer  from  the  condudl 
of  the  corporation  towards  the  art  department,  that 
the  same  chara(?teristics  have  marked  its  condudl 
towards  other  departments.  But  it  is  fair  to  antici- 
pate from  this  condu6l  the  probable  attitude  of  the 
corporation  towards  those  departments  of  an  Uni- 
versity which  are  either  not  within  the  sphere  of 
clerical  sympathy,  or  are  outside  the  boundary  of 
clerical  inquiry. 

Three  things  so  far  are  clear :  ist,  The  differ- 
ence between  a  college  and  an  university  ;  2d,  That 
the  state  has  never  surrendered  control  of  Yale 
College,  and  3d,  That  it  is  the  duty  of  the  state 
to  pass  laws  for  the  governing  of  Yale  University. 

Nothing  will  be  done  until  graduates  and  others 
interested  in  the  matter  insist  upon  adlion.  They 
must  unite,  consult,  determine  and  contribute. 
Cash  is  a  fadlor  in  everything  now-a-days.  Cash 
to  print ;  cash  to  circulate  printed  matter ;  cash  to 
retain  the  best  of  legal  advice,  etc. :  even  cash  for  a 
lobby.  It  will  be  comparatively  easy  to  frame  a 
body  of  laws  for  Yale  satisfactory  to  nine-tenths 

51 


of  her  graduates  ;  excepting  of  course,  the  clericals 
and  their  adherents.  In  fa(?t  so  far  as  opinions 
have  been  expressed  they  all  point  in  the  same 
general  direction  : 

4     I  St,  Virtual    autonomy    of  the    several    depart- 
ments. 

2d,  A  central  body,  call  it  what  you  may,  com- 
posed of  state  representation ;  delegates  from  the 
several  departments  ;  and  an  increased  number  of 
ele(?ted  graduates. 

3d,  A  chief  executive  eledled  by  the  central 
body  for  a  limited  number  of  years. 

These,  in  the  rough,  outline  the  desired  reform. 

Many  Yale  men,  however,  who  have  given  the 
subject  study,  regard  the  queer  and.  complex  gov- 
ernment of  Harvard  as  the  very  best  one  for  a 
university  the  country  has  yet  developed. 

Any  change  would  be  acceptable  which  would 
terminate  the  denominational  character  of  the  in- 
stitution and  admit  to  the  governing  board  the 
best  intelligence,  the  widest  experience  and  the 
highest  culture  of  all  branches  of  American  life. 


52 


pi-^Tfi/lZ.  YALE    UNIVERSITY 


GRADUATE    SCHOOL 


Bishop  Museum  Fellowships. 

TWO  Fellowships,  of  the  value  of  One  Thou- 
sand Dollars  each,  are  offered  for  study  and 
research  in  Anthropology,  Botany,  Zoology,  Ge- 
ology, or  Geography.  The  Fellowships  are  open 
to  men  and  women,  in  the  United  States  and 
other  countries,  who  have  completed  at  least  one 
year  of  graduate  study  at  an  institution  of  high 
standing;  preference  is  given  to  candidates  who 
have  already  obtained  the  degree  of  Doctor  of 
Philosophy  or  who  have  otherwise  demonstrated 
their  fitness  to  undertake  original  research. 

The  Fellowships  are  primarily  intended  to  pro- 
mote scientific  investigation  within  the  Pacific 
Ocean  region.  The  results  of  all  research  must  be 
submitted  to  the  Bishop  Museum  for  publication. 

Applications  for  these  Fellowships  should  be 
made  to  the  Dean  of  the  Graduate  School  of  Yale 
University,  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  or  to  the 
Director  of  the  Bishop  Museum,  Honolulu,  Ha- 
waii, before  March  i,  on  blanks  which  may  be  ob- 
tained from  them,  and  should  be  accompanied  by 

1 .  Official  transcript  of  applicant's  academic  record. 

2.  Reprints  of  his  scientific  publications. 

3.  Letters  of  recommendation. 

4.  A  recent  photograph. 
A  statement  of  the  nature  of  the  proposed  investi- 


Y 


\^- 


YALE    UNIVERSITY 
GRADUATE    SCHOOL     ^,  ^ 


Seessel  Fellowship  for  Research. 

ASEESSEL  Fellowship,  of  the  value  of  Fifteen 
L  Hundred  Dollars,  is  offered  for  original  re- 
search in  Biological  Studies  at  Yale  University. 
Competition  for  this  Fellow^ship  is  open  to  both 
men  and  women  in  the  United  States  and  other 
countries.  In  making  the  award,  preference  is 
given  to  graduates  of  universities  who  have  al- 
ready obtained  the  Ph.D.  degree,  and  who  have 
demonstrated  by  previous  work  their  fitness  to 
carry  on  successfully  original  research  of  a  high 
order  in  one  of  the  three  departments  of  Biologi- 
cal Studies:  Physiology  (including  Physiological 
Chemistry),  Zoology,  and  Botany. 

Applications  for  this  Fellowship  must  be  made 
to  the  Dean  of  the  Graduate  School,  Yale  Uni- 
versity, New  Haven,  Connecticut,  before  March 
I,  and  should  be  accompanied  by 

1.  An  official  transcript  of  the  applicant's  academic 
record. 

2.  Reprints  of  his  scientific  publications. 

3.  Letters  of  recommendation. 

4.  A  recent  photograph. 

5.  A  statement  of  the  particular  problem  to  be  inves- 
tigated. 

Application  blanks  may  be  obtained  from  the  office  of  the 
Graduate  School. 


o  "o 
^    r^    n 

O    § 


r^        CO        r-h 


O 
O 

cr 
a- 


3 


org     5- 


3   =  ° 


X 

2-  k^    o  =^ 


org   •t^ 
P     o 


o    ?i 


C/D    S 
o      ~ 

O 

o 


o    5 

C/D 


n» 


^  3 


< 

CO 


CO 

cr 


h-^   cr 

^  3 
n 

o 

D 
o 
o 

c 


p 

o 
tr 


p 
a- 


o 


S    ^ 


P 


^  s 


Ii3   P 
o 


rt- 

H) 
•-1 

<: 
p 

CO 

O 
•1 

P 


cr  o 


H 


P 


2    C- 

O      O) 
O       p 

^   5- 

O 


CTQ 


o 

a 
p 

-o 
o 


o 
o 
^    o 

CO 

p    »^ 
f--  p 

f=    cr 


O       *-t       X 


o 

CO 

O 


n-      O 


S-  3 


2-  ^ 

CO 


3 

P 

O 


P 

t3-  ^  ^ 

Si.   o 

cr 

o 

•-1 

p 


o 

c 

__         CO 

ID 

O 

CO 


o 

co 
O 

t^r 


CO       Jj( 

h-i.      CO 

3   f=i" 


P         CO 

Crq     p 


O       P 


0 
c 


C1- 

o 

CI- 

o    2 


o 


CO 


o    5-  l^ 


o 

o 
•-1 


o 
•-t 

CO     ^ 
CO         CO 


13-  ;=; 
o  ^ 


^ 
tr 


n 
p 

!3 

erg 


•-n 
Pu 


c 

cr 


O       P 

>   n 

P- 
P 


o 

S   2,  ^ 

p    rp  H^ 

H-t  P 

2      O  !3 

3  ^  ^ 

n>     u  o 

!3      p  "^ 


o 
p 


K*    O 


^   3   S 


P 

O 


P 
13 


P  H^ 

fD      CO 

O         P 


O 

CO 

O 

rt 

13- 

O 


13      IZ^ 

CO      O 

*-h     ^      ^ 

»-•     <j       O 

•^         CO         CO 

2    ^ 

13      ^ 

PL     H) 

P 

O 


CTQ 
P 

CO 

o 


<     ft 

p    cr 


o 


tr 


13- 

O*    CI- 
■-1      o 

p    Crq 
S2.   o 


P  - 

-  z 

-t  o 

P        r^  ^ 

o     n> 


o 

n- 

•-t 

2- 

jT> 

co 

3 

^ 

o 

cr 

^ 

o 

o 

^ 

o 

•-t 

c 

t3 
CI- 

n> 

•-1 

CO 

«-► 

p 

D 


t3 

org 


13 

< 

CO 


PL- 


X 
n 
a 


3        ^ 


53  d  o 

P  O  Qu 

"^  S  O 

O  t^*  D 

?r  ^  g 

CO  CO  P 

CO  I  r-h 


P 

O 

o 


O      p 

cTU 

p^     CO 


h-i.  p 

p-  o 

o  nr 

J3  -• 

o   org 


'-I 


c 


Wv. 


YALE  UNIVERSITY  ^^  /r^ 

GRADUATE  SCHOOL  \  ^\ 

_______  ^o      "?>. 

Sterling  Fellowships  for  Research  in  the  Humanistic 
Studies  and  the  Natural  Sciences. 

THE  Sterling  Fellowships  have  been  established  by  a  gift  of  One  Million  Dollars 
from  the  Trustees  of  the  Estate  of  the  late  John  W.  Sterling  to  stimulate  schol- 
arship and  advanced  research  in  all  fields  of  knowledge.  They  are  open  to  graduates  of 
Yale  University  and  other  approved  universities  and  colleges  in  the  United  States  and 
foreign  countries,  to  both  men  and  women,  whether  graduate  students,  or  instructors 
or  professors  when  on  leave  of  absence,  who  desire  to  carry  on  studies  and  investigations 
under  the  direction  of  the  Faculty  of  the  Graduate  School  of  Yale  University  or  in 
affiliation  with  that  body. 

The  Sterling  Fellowships  are  awarded  primarily  to  persons  who  have  had  such  train- 
ing and  experience  in  research  as  is  indicated  by  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Philosophy. 
In  some  instances  awards  are  made  to  students  who  desire  to  complete  their  work  for 
the  Ph.D.  degree.  They  must,  however,  be  far  advanced  in  their  work  towards  this  de- 
gree and  be  able  to  devote  substantially  all  of  their  time  to  investigation.  Fellow- 
ships are  awarded  on  the  understanding  that  the  recipients  shall  not  engage  in  teaching 
during  the  tenure  of  appointment.  A  holder  of  a  Fellowship  who  has  been  in  residence 
at  Yale  University  for  a  year  or  more,  may  be  permitted  in  exceptional  circumstances 
to  carry  on  his  investigations  in  part  elsewhere. 

The  stipends  of  the  Fellowships  range  from  |i,ooo  to  $2,500  or  more,  dependent 
upon  the  previous  experience  of  the  recipient  and  the  character  of  the  proposed  inves- 
tigation. For  special  purposes,  such  as  completing  a  specific  investigation,  awards  of  less 
than  $1,000  may  be  made.  Fellows  who  are  candidates  for  the  Ph.D.  degree  are  sub- 
ject to  the  usual  tuition  and  laboratory  fees.  All  fellows  are  appointed  for  a  single  year, 
but  may  be  reappointed  with  or  without  change  in  stipend. 

Holders  of  Sterling  Fellowships  are  required  to  submit  reports  on  their  work,  either 
at  stated  intervals  or  at  the  expiration  of  their  Fellowships ;  and  when  the  results  are  pub- 
lished they  are  expected  to  give  proper  credit  to  the  assistance  they  have  received  as 
Sterling  Fellows. 

Applications  for  these  Fellowships  must  be  submitted  by  March  i,  addressed  to  the 
Dean  of  the  Graduate  School  of  Yale  University,  New  Haven,  Connecticut,  on  blanks 
which  may  be  obtained  from  him. 


Pren  of  Tuttle,  Morehouie  <fc  Taylor,  New  Haven. 


